ok school me on autos

[93turbo_animal]

My local barber has a 94 turbo f350 with and auto and less then 100k miles hes had a shift kit installed and the shift solenoids replaced but he is having problems with it dropping out of OD for no aparent reason when hes going down the road with no OD light flashing. I was thinking the thing on the IP is out of adjustment but I've always been a handshaker so my knowledge on autos is limited

 

[towcat]

i presume it's a diesel.
have the FIPL(TPS) checked.

 

[icanfixall]

So... Being an E4OD trans in a 94 there are some "things" that need to be pointed out. When the driver lets off the throttle peddle the trans will shift to neutral... Kinda a crappy thing to do but this is programed in so that when you come to a complete stop the motor wont die. Its the same principle as a standard trans. You need to shift out of gear or at least push in the clutch to the motor wont die. This shifting to neutral happens from around 45 mph and down from there. Now if this friends problem is happening at any speed it could be as posted above or one of the many electrical connections are dirty. I went thru three transmissions and three stealerships before a member "over there" told me to clean the connecters. Problem solved for me at a cost of under $10.00.... But long after the stealerships cost me plenty. Ford customer service in Dearborn told me they wouldn't help out of any refunds because I took my truck to three differant dealers... Gees... The first crapheads couldn't fix it... Neither could any of the other two.. Who would have know cust service was going to tell me that... Any wonder why I steer any and all away from the stealerships..... The 6 or 7 connecters can be found under the master cylinder (3) and the rest are on both sides and rear top of the trans. Use contact cleaner that is harmless to plastic. Let dry and grease with die electric grease. Its some work but cheap if it is what you need to do... I couldn't find a dealership that knew any of this... I even drovbe from L.A. to Pheniox because some ALLDATA shop told me they could fit it... They changed fluid and the tps... It worked until the Ca. AZ. border... Then it started to drop OD at 85 mph and everything lower than that speed just as it had been doing before... This site and the other site rock for getting the correct information... And its free to everyone just for the asking.....

 

[Double-S-Diesel]

check all of the lights, common for a brake light to go out and make the computer think the brake is applied and unlock the convertor.

 

[Mr_Roboto]

The computer uses 4 sensors: Tach, FIPL (TPS), Speedo (VSS) and MLPS (neutral safety).

Any one of those sensors bad will cause improper shifts. Tach is hard to tell unless the truck has a tachometer in the dash, and a bad one will cause Torque Converter Clutch lock and unlock (feels like up and downshifts).

 

[zpd307]

sorry to jack, but since we are talking autos. the tc on mine locks up at around 30-35 no matter how hard i am accelerating. i checked tps= 1.10/ 4.19 at wot, new tach sensor, i pulled the connectors at the trans- looked good. i just now ran some sea foam trans tune and did a filter/ fluid change. the sea foam helped with the 2-3 second delay going into forward or reverse, but still locks up so early. any ideas

 

[Mike]

So... Being an E4OD trans in a 94 there are some "things" that need to be pointed out. When the driver lets off the throttle peddle the trans will shift to neutral...

Not to nit pick your response but.... I dont think it shifts to neutral, it only unlocks the TC so the trans can slip.

 

[Mr_Roboto]

Not to nit pick your response but.... I dont think it shifts to neutral, it only unlocks the TC so the trans can slip.

I agree. The trans should never go into neutral.

The E4OD's torque converter is very "loose" so you may not feel compression braking at lower speeds. This is particularly noticeable in the PSD where the motor will actually drop to idle because the converter slips so much.

 

[Russ]

The TC will unlock if the brakes are applied, I'd replace the brake light bulbs first.

 

[Diesel JD]

Aric if I remember right you knew enough about the E4OD to ditch it for a ZF5!!! It can be a good unit but for my money too much stuff to go wrong with it ya know?

 

[93turbo_animal]

Ok how do you check the TPS sensor?

 

[icanfixall]

So... If you feel the trans doesn't go into neutral just watch the tach the next time your driving an E4OD equiped truck. Heres another thing to try. As your driving down the road just apply enough brakes for the lites to come on. You will "feel" the torque converter unlocking and slipping. Now compare that to slipping when you let off the throttle. Heres another "thing" to try. Get going about 45 mph and let off the throttle. Look at the rpms... They have dropped to idle or there abouts. Now just ever so slightly add some throttle. See the rpms jump back up. Now tell me again that the torque converter slips instead of the trans shifting to neutral.... I'm all E4OD all the way because the wife is shiftless.... This I know but I can stand to be corrected too... Its been said by better than me....Um not a smart myan... Life is like a box of chocolates....

 

[Mike]

Im telling you, the trans does not shift the neutral. The TC unlocks.

 

[Agnem]

Well I don't have an E4OD, nor have I driven one, but the 4R100 in the PSD does what Mike describes. Gary, it is possible that YOURS goes into neutral, but I do not believe that they are supposed to. It would be a programming issue. I don't think it is a topic that warrants debate since anything is possible. (Especially with Gary's truck )

 

[icanfixall]

So... If the torque converter starts slipping when we let off the throttle where is all the heat going??? I will ask this question over on the other site. There is an engineer that was involved in the reasearch of the E4OD before it went into the diesel trucks... Be back with an answer later....